When a guesthouse belonging to one of Nigeria’s leading Christian pastors collapsed in 2014, killing 115 mostly South African pilgrims, attention focused on the multimillion-dollar “megachurches” that form a huge, untaxed sector of Africa’s top economy.
Hundreds of millions of dollars change hands each year in these popular Pentecostal houses of worship, which are modelled on their counterparts in the US.
Some of the churches can hold more than 200,000 worshippers and, with their attendant business empires, they constitute a significant section of the economy, employing tens of thousands of people and raking in tourist dollars, as well as exporting Christianity globally.
Private jets
But exactly how much of Nigeria’s $510 billion (Sh45.5 trillion) GDP they make up is difficult to assess, since the churches are, like the oil sector in Africa’s top energy producer, largely opaque entities.
“They don’t submit accounts to anybody,” says Bismarck Rewane, economist and CEO of Lagos consultancy Financial Derivatives.
“At least six church leaders have private jets, so they have money. How much? No one really knows.”
When Nigeria recalculated its GDP in March, its economy became Africa’s biggest, as previously poorly captured sectors such as mobile phones, e-commerce and its prolific “Nollywood” entertainment industry were specifically included in estimates.
There was no such separate listing for the “megachurches”, whose main source of income is “tithe”, the 10 per cent or so of their income that followers are asked to contribute.
As the churches have charity status, they have no obligation to open their books, and certainly do not have to fill in tax returns - an exemption increasingly controversial in Nigeria, where poverty remains pervasive despite the oil riches.
The pastors argue their charity work should exempt them.
“We use the income of the church to build schools, we use the income of the church to serve the needs of the poor,” David Oyedepo, bishop of the popular Winners Chapel, told Reuters in an interview. “These are non-profit organisations.”
Nonetheless, the surging popularity of the megachurches among the Christians who make up half of Nigeria’s 170 million population has propelled their preachers into the ranks of the richest people in Africa.
In 2011, Forbes magazine estimated the fortunes of Nigeria’s five richest pastors. Oyedepo topped the list, with an estimated net worth of $150 million (Sh13.4 billion).
He was followed by “Pastor Chris” Oyakhilome of Believers’ LoveWorld Incorporated, also known as the Christ Embassy and popular with executives and politicians, on $30 million to $50 million (Sh4.5 billion).
TB Joshua, pastor of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, at the centre of the recent diplomatic storm over the deaths in its guesthouse, was thought to have $10 million to $15 million (Sh1.3 billion).
The National Bureau of Statistics declined to comment on how churches fit into their GDP figures, but a source there said they were included as “non-profit”, which falls under “other services” in the latest figures. In 2013, the category contributed 2.5 per cent of GDP, the same as the financial sector.
A former banker at Nigeria’s United Bank for Africa , who declined to be named, recalled being approached five years ago by a church that was bringing in $5 million (Sh446 million) a week from contributions at home or abroad.
“They wanted to make some pretty big investments: real estate, shares,” he said. “They wanted to issue a bond to borrow, and then use the weekly flows to pay the coupon.”
In the end, he said, the bank turned down the proposal on ethical grounds.
In 2011, Oyakhilome was investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and charged with laundering $35 million (Sh3.5 billion) of contributions to his church in foreign bank accounts. He denied all wrongdoing and the case was dismissed for lack of evidence.
Oyakhilome was not available for comment and Joshua’s media team declined a request for an interview with him.
Several mega pastors
Aneke Chika, a business analyst in an oil services company, told Reuters on the steps of Oyedepo’s church she set aside 20,000 naira (Sh10,829) of her 200,000 naira (Sh108,290) salary every month.
But with an election coming up in February, it is debatable whether President Goodluck Jonathan, who is close to several megapastors, would risk upsetting these influential men and their hefty congregations with a fat tax bill.
“There is no single government input on this premises,” Oyedepo said. “We supply our water, we make our roads, then you ... say: ‘Let’s tax them’. For what?”
